RENEWABLE ENERGY: Wal-Mart, Google and General Electric made investments! Notably Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway firm has been increasing its clean energy investments, with a recent purchase of $5.6 billion for a renewable energy company in Nevada and a $2.4 billion investment in a wind farm in California. As clean energy markets expand, these American companies and investors will be well-positioned to lead.

Shifting global investments to clean energy | The Great Debate: "The reality is that emerging economies do not need to go down a path of relying on fossil fuels. Just as many developing countries skipped land lines and went straight to cellular telephones, these countries can leapfrog right to affordable clean energy.

Investing in clean energy is not only good for the economic growth, it is good for people. The unfortunate reality is that those in the poorest countries are often the most vulnerable to climate change — whether from rising seas that threaten homes and water supplies or droughts that drive up food prices. This is the human cost of fossil fuels that often goes unmentioned in balance sheets and gross domestic product statistics." CLICK LINK TO READ MORE

'via Blog this'

Carbon Credit: EU approves German carbon support scheme for heavy industry meant to prevent energy-intensive industries such as steel and cement makers from relocating outside Europe to avoid the costs associated with the EU's carbon trading scheme, known as "carbon leakage." | Reuters

EU approves German carbon support scheme for heavy industry | Reuters: ""The Commission's investigation found that the scheme... would effectively prevent carbon leakage while keeping competition distortions to a minimum," the European Commission said in a statement." CLICK LINK TO READ ARTICLE

'via Blog this'

Update: Climate Model Shows How Global Warming Affects Future of Storms. Like Virtual Reality Computer Programs, you can input today's conditions (wind speed, temperatures, pressures, etc.) and predict what will happen in the future. Today's weather forecasts use similar prediction tools. In some respects, "climate" computer programs and "weather" computer programs are different, but there are some clear similarities. "Weather" prediction programs try to give short-term prognostications of local weather a few days into the future. "Climate" predictions attempt to describe long-term trends in large-scale climate patterns years and decades into the future. So, how can computer programs help us answer the hurricane/cyclone question? With the help of the program, a scientist can play "what if" scenarios and see how future storms will change. What if greenhouse gases increase? What if ocean temperatures increase? What if wind speeds change? How will these things affect the number and strength of hurricanes? - John Abraham | Environment | theguardian.com

Global warming and the future of storms | John Abraham | Environment | theguardian.com: "Very recently, a publication appeared by perhaps the world's best-known hurricane scientist, Dr. Kerry Emanuel of MIT. Dr. Emanuel combined global computer simulations with more regional simulations to look into the future at the evolution of storms. What he found was surprising. Because the storms will become stronger and more numerous, within the next century, the power dissipated by future storms will increase by about 50 percent. What was particularly interesting was that his findings show increases in both strong and weaker cyclones."
CLICK LINK TO READ FULL ARTICLE
'via Blog this'